Here is The Puppy and then
me and then The Puppy again and again and again. Yes, I love my dog. Maybe a
little too much. Nah, that's not possible. : ) I will add
some more pictures of The Puppy soon. I have a million of them!
Some have asked how I got into this
mess in the first place. Beadmaking, I mean. Well, it went a
little something like this........
I first became addicted to beads through seed
beads. You know, those itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie
miniscule glass beads from places like Japan and
Czechoslovakia. I started off by buying hanks and hanks of the Czech beads
and then moved on to the tubes of Japanese beads. I happily wove my way
through at least a kazillion of these little dudes and then I discovered the
delica beads. Oh my gosh. They were like Borg perfection. But
MAN! Those little things were expensive at my local bead shop. And
the selection was nothing to crow about either. So, I turned to the
internet for assistance. I ordered catalogs. I subscribed to
magazines. It was in one of those magazines that I saw lampwork beads.
The magazines and the internet gave me so much to sort through to find the beads
I needed. It was natural that in my searches I would stumble upon a
lampworking bead site. I think the first lampworking site I went to was
www.smartassglass.com (Sharon Peters
site) - I mean, if this url came up on your search results....you would
click it, wouldn't you? I looked at this site (and laughed until I cried)
and I saw some other lampwork sites soon after that and I thought....hmmm, those
would be nice to use as a clasp on one of my insanely detailed and
mathematically precise amulet purses. If you don't know what an amulet
purse is ....well, it is like a bag made out of bead fabric. The bead
fabric is woven bead by bead. It takes an unreasonable amount of time,
patience and keen eyesight to make. Now, at this point, I didn't want to
actually make these beads myself, I just wanted to buy them.....or so I thought.
Soon after the seed bead addiction was waning I
got started buying rather large quantities of czech glass beads of the bigger
variety. I liked the shapes, the bright colors and I especially liked the
ones that were more than one color in a bead....I think its called givre or
something like that. Anyway, while searching for more and more czech
beads, (I was also buying the odd beanie baby here and there at the time -
which, of course, means ebay!) I fell in love with one seller's wonderful way of
putting together mixes of different czech beads of the same color family
or what have you. Every day I would see what she had to offer and I would
bid like a mad woman. I acquired MANY of her beads. MANY.
During these searches on ebay, I stumbled upon those dang lampwork beads
again. And, at the time, the bidding on lampwork beads was even hotter
than for the beanie babies or even my beloved czech mixes!!! But...ohhhhh...the
colors. The wondrous and captivating colors. I needed these beads in
my life somehow. I did MUCH more research on lampwork beads. I even
found a book in the library. Making glass beads by Cindy Jenkins. I
did more research. I found a place not far away that gave classes....That
was it. I knew what I needed to do. I took my first class in January of
2002. I was in love. All I did for over three months was acquire the
many, many items needed to set up a lampworking studio and by April 2002 I was
SET! For the next three months, my family doesn't really know
where I was. I never left the torch. I couldn't sleep without
dreaming bead dreams. I wound molten glass around a mandrel in my sleep,
in the shower, in the car, my mind was at one with the glass. Little did I
know it was finding its way into my very essence. I have no doubt that
glass will always be with me in some way from now until I leave this earth.
Welcome to Loriland,
located in sunny San Jose, California!
It's all about
the beads, Baby!
Ok, so in this first photo
you see my beadmaking area, complete with kiln, computer controller for
the kiln, lots of lighting, Nortel Minor torch with super-neat marver
from Razberribeads attached, my tool tray, super comfy drafting chair,
stringers, glass, leather elbow cushions, water quenching can, marble
work surface, and Oakland A's finger. All of these items are very
important to the beadmaking process, I assure you.
In this photo you can see
my rolling Craftsman carts where I store the majority of my glass rods.
They are arranged in typically obsessive compulsive ROY G BIV order, of
course. Also, notice my portable air conditioner which is very
handy during the summer. My torching glasses are on my seat and
you can also see jars of frit, my fiber blanket and some dipped mandrels
along side of a picture of my booboobunny, Desiree. Also very
important to the beadmaking process is the green coffee cup with the
ladybugs on it. I love that cup.
Ok, this photo is pretty
similar to the first one but here you can see my ventilation system
(that thing sucks BIG TIME!) and my oxygen concentrator.
This is a picture of my
photo set-up. I got it on ebay from
www.tabletopstudio.com look
for their bead photo studio package. It is wonderful! Came
with lots of doodads and whatchamacallits. The lights are
especially awesome.
